Man City close in on Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea lose again

Premier League round up: Man City close in on Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea lose again - A review of last weekend matches

Erling Haaland scores to equal the highest scoring season by a player in a 38-game season with his 31st and 32nd against Leicester on Saturday at the Etihad. City won 3-1. (Photo credit: BBC)

Manchester City closed the gap on Arsenal to just three points with a game in hand after beating Leicester City 3-1 at the Etihad on Saturday.

Dean Smith took charge of the Foxes for the first time, but it was always going to be a daunting task as it didn’t take long for the hosts to race to a two-goal lead inside the opening quarter of an hour with a crisp finish off a set piece from John Stones—his first of the season and then the second from the spot.

Wilfred Ndidi handled in the area after Jack Grealish already had a penalty claim dismissed, and this time, the VAR intervened and Erling Haaland converted from the spot.

The Norwegian would however equal Mohammed Salah’s best run in a season with 32 goals after gliding through the Leicester defence, 3-0 at halftime, and with Bayern waiting in midweek, Pep Guardiola rang changes and took off Haaland and John Stones for the restart.

Not long after that, Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne were yanked off, and Grealish soon followed.

A change in shape got Leicester back in, but it ended 3-1, and it’s now up to Arsenal.

Elsewhere, Chelsea lost at home again on Frank Lampard’s third home debut—one as a player and twice as a manager—as Brighton came from behind to secure a solid 2-1 victory at the Stamford Bridge Stadium to kill off any hopes of Chelsea qualifying for Europe via the league and brighten theirs.

Lampard continues his managerial struggles

Lampard once again rested key players ahead of the visit of Real Madrid in midweek, and the selected eleven seemed to have found a way to play good football when a deflected Connor Gallagher effort sailed past Robert Sanchez in the Brighton goal against the run of play.

The Seagulls levelled through Danny Welbeck, who came on for the injured young Ferguson, and another substitute, Julio Enciso, scored a beauty in the second half to hand Chelsea their twelfth league loss of the season.

Brighton moved within seven points of the top four and also has a game in hand.

Tottenham’s hopes of a top-four finish got badly dented at home to Bournemouth, as the relegation-threatened side handed themselves a huge survival boost with a 3-2 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.

Heung Min Son scored in back-to-back games, but Brighton levelled in the first half before Dominic Solanke put them 2-1 up with a fine finish.

Substitute Arnaut Danjuma levelled matters with just two minutes to go, but Dango Outtara scored a beauty in stoppage time to hand Spurs a shock defeat.